Pennsylvania Probate and Intestate Succession: What Happens Without a Will (2026)

Pennsylvania probate starts at the Register of Wills, an elected county official who is not a judge, with disputes escalating to the Orphans' Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas. Pennsylvania is also one of the few states that still taxes inheritances, including those passing to children.

Information last verified on 2026-07-16. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How Probate Works in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania probate runs through two distinct bodies. The Register of Wills is an elected county official, not a judge, in each of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, with ministerial, non-discretionary jurisdiction over probating a will and granting letters testamentary or letters of administration under Title 20 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. The Orphans' Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas is a full judicial division presided over by a judge, and it handles contested matters, estate and trust litigation, and formal supervision. Routine, uncontested probate happens entirely at the Register of Wills office; disputes escalate to the Orphans' Court. This structure is confirmed on the Pennsylvania General Assembly's official statute site and on county Register of Wills pages such as Montgomery County and Westmoreland County. Pennsylvania has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code and does not offer the UPC-style formal or informal election; its own Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code governs instead. For a comparison of how other states structure this same process, see Probate by State.

In practice, once the Register of Wills grants letters, Pennsylvania administration functions closer to independent administration: the personal representative can handle routine matters without repeated court hearings. Formal Orphans' Court proceedings become necessary only if there is a will contest, a dispute among beneficiaries, or if a formal account must be filed and confirmed by the court rather than resolved through an informal family settlement agreement. Under 20 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3532, a personal representative who distributes the estate without a court-confirmed account does so at his own risk: the distribution carries no liability to a claimant unless that claimant's claim was actually known to the personal representative within one year after the first complete advertisement of the grant of letters, or before the distribution occurred. Real property is treated differently: a claimant must file written notice of a claim against distributed real property with the clerk within one year of the decedent's death, and that claim expires five years after death if the personal representative never files an account. Combined with a required 9-month inheritance tax filing and payment deadline, most Pennsylvania estates take roughly 12 to 18 months to fully close, and more complex estates involving real estate sales, business interests, or disputes can take 18 to 24 months or longer.

Intestate Succession in Pennsylvania: Who Inherits Without a Will

Pennsylvania's intestate succession statute sets a surviving spouse's share at 20 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 2102, and the shares of everyone else at § 2103. The spouse's exact share depends on whether the decedent left surviving issue, a surviving parent, or both.

If the decedent leaves no surviving issue and no surviving parent, the entire intestate estate passes to the surviving spouse.

If the decedent leaves no surviving issue but is survived by a parent or parents, the surviving spouse takes the first $30,000 plus one-half of the balance; the remainder passes to the surviving parent or parents.

If the decedent leaves surviving issue, and all of them are also issue of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse takes the first $30,000 plus one-half of the balance, and the remaining half passes to the issue per stirpes.

If the decedent leaves surviving issue, and one or more of them are not issue of the surviving spouse, the spouse's share drops to one-half of the intestate estate, with no preliminary $30,000 allowance; the other half passes to all of the issue per stirpes.

If there is no surviving spouse, the estate passes to issue per stirpes; if none, to parents equally or to a surviving parent; if none, to siblings and, by representation, to the descendants of a deceased sibling, under § 2103; if none, to grandparents and their descendants. Only if no such heir can be found does the estate escheat to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

One way to make sure your property goes to the people you actually choose, rather than following Pennsylvania's intestate succession order, is to have a valid will in place. recordinglaw.com's free Pennsylvania Last Will and Testament Generator can help you create one, with no account required.

Small Estate and Simplified Probate in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's small estate petition, under 20 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3102 and the procedure set out at 231 Pa. Code Rule 5.50, is available when the decedent's personal property, meaning everything other than real estate and certain payments already made directly under § 3101 such as wages or funeral bills paid without administration, has a gross value not exceeding $50,000. Owning real estate does not disqualify an estate from this process; only the personal property total is measured against the $50,000 cap. Once the petition is filed, the Orphans' Court Division can direct distribution of the personal property without requiring full estate administration.

Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax: Why Children Are Not Exempt

Pennsylvania has no state estate tax, but it is a current, active inheritance tax state, one of only a handful remaining nationally, administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue on Form REV-1500. Unlike many states that either have no inheritance tax at all or specifically exempt transfers to children, Pennsylvania taxes inheritances based purely on the beneficiary's relationship to the decedent, with no dollar exemption: the tax applies from the first dollar in every taxable class.

The rate schedule is 0 percent to a surviving spouse, and to a parent inheriting from a child who was 21 or younger; 4.5 percent to lineal descendants and ascendants, meaning children, grandchildren, parents, and grandparents; 12 percent to siblings; and 15 percent to everyone else, including nieces, nephews, friends, and unrelated beneficiaries, though charities and government entities remain exempt. That 4.5 percent rate on children is the fact that most often surprises people planning a Pennsylvania estate, since a number of other states waive tax on transfers to children entirely. On a $200,000 inheritance passing to an adult child, for example, the 4.5 percent rate produces a $9,000 inheritance tax bill, paid by the child as beneficiary, not by the estate. The tax is due within 9 months of the date of death, though the Department of Revenue offers a 5 percent discount for payment made within the first 3 months.

Do You Need a Probate Attorney?

A probate attorney is worth engaging when a will contest or dispute among heirs is likely, when the estate includes a business interest, when the family is blended in a way that creates gaps Pennsylvania's intestate succession statute does not cover well, or when the inheritance tax exposure across multiple beneficiary classes needs to be worked out correctly. For a straightforward, uncontested estate that qualifies for Pennsylvania's small estate petition, many people navigate the process without one, though the inheritance tax return still has to be filed regardless of estate size.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about probate, intestate succession, and inheritance tax in Pennsylvania as of the verification date above. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is not a substitute for advice from a probate attorney or tax professional licensed in Pennsylvania, particularly for a contested estate, a business interest, a blended family, or a beneficiary trying to determine exact inheritance tax exposure. Figures, thresholds, and rates change; verify current details directly with the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue or the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes before relying on any figure here.

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Last updated: 2026-07-16. Figures and statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-07-16.

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